Teacher in Whale Cove, Nunavut

Saturday, 13 September 2014

I'm Back!

I have been back in Whale Cove for a little over a month now and can now say that I am settled back in. I apologize for neglecting my blog since returning. When I arrived back the school was short 4 staff members due to a shortage of houses in the community. So the beginning of the school year was a stressful time! The staff worked together and all the kids were able to start school on the original start date, but we were all exhausted at the end of week one.

Housing is well known issue in the north. The smaller communities suffer the most because they are low on the priority list. The school had 4 new hires this year. Three were put into the hotel after week one and were then moved into a three bedroom house. Our fourth hire is currently living in a 3 bedroom house with 14 people and is eagerly waiting for a new unit to open up.

Two of our graduates applied and were accepted to Arctic College this fall; however, they were unable to attend due to a shortage of houses in Iqaluit and Rankin. Our students are pushed to pursue post secondary education only to be let down and forced to look for work in their small community where work is hard to come by.

Unfortunately these stories about the lack of housing in northern communities are not rare.

Sik sik

On a lighter note – Whale Cove is gorgeous in the fall. I
have been able to get out on the land quite a bit and I recently have seen my
first few caribou! Beautiful creatures; although, not the smartest. I was able to
get pretty close to the tuk tu (caribou in Inuktitut) to snap a picture and they didn’t seem the care.

Hey! I'm so glad I found this blog. I would love to know more and more about the people in Whale Cove!I am writing a novel write now about an Inuit community in Nunavut and I've been basing them off of Whale Cove. I find the place so fascinating, but I'm having trouble finding the real kind of "everyday life" information I need to make it realistic. This is what I needed, and would love to hear more.I'm not actually making the place in my book Whale Cove, because well, I've been so afraid of getting my information inaccurate that I don't want anyone there to hear about or read it and get mad at me! Ha ha.And its great to hear real experiences up there from someone who isn't an Inuk, but loves to learn the culture, because you're more likely to know what's different about their culture up there from ours in Southern Canada, and mention it. Thanks again, please keep writing and give details!!!